My trip to Hargeisa

I recently went on a trip from Garowe to Hargeisa. I was tried of being in Garowe for the past 3 and a half months and I wanted to see different places within Somalia that were at least stable places. At first I wanted to visit Addis Ababa, Ethiopia because I heard it would be cheaper to go there than to visit Nairobi, Kenya, but I decided to settle for a trip to Somaliland, specifically Hargeisa because I heard so many things about that place I wanted to witness for myself. I was there for 5 days only due to having to come back to Garowe for work. However, it was a great trip and one I’ll never forget.

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To people living outside of Somalia, Somalia is considered to be one country, but to the people living inside Somalia it’s different. There are many “Somalias” here, particularly Somaliland and Puntland, etc. Somaliland wants to get independence away from the rest of Somalia, and functions like a normal country except they are not recognized by the world. They have their own currency, laws, but they don’t have a Somaliland passport, so many people come to Garowe to get Somalia passports when traveling outside the country. However, Puntland wants to be a federal state within Somalia. Before I went to Hargeisa, everything happened so last minute, so I couldn’t book a flight to Hargeisa. Instead I took a car ride from Garowe to Hargeisa. It cost me $70, and I got the front seat all to myself, the rest of the car were filled with people like sardines, but at least I was comfortable enough to move my feet. I also went by myself because everyone was busy to go with me, so I decided to be brave and go for it. The drive took 9 hours to get to our final destination, but along the way we drove by Las Anod, Lafo Ruugaayo , and stopped to eat at Burao. I loved seeing the countryside of Somalia, and the camels, and beautiful mountains. I also loved seeing how each city had a different weather. We passed by a city called Shiikh, and I saw this place in this city where a Kuwaiti prince brought property to build a gigantic mansion. I don’t blame him because Shiikh has the best weather in the world, it feels like early fall there with the sun shining. Burao’s weather was also cool, but Berbera’s weather was humid and hot as it has the ocean there. I saw the Indian ocean for the first time since my flight to Bosaso while in Berbera and it was absolutely beautiful.

I finally made it to Hargeisa after 9 hours of being relatively uncomfortable and seating for the majority part of the car ride. Hargeisa was surprisingly very lively, and a big city with many tall buildings and cars. It was an actual city. Of course because Hargeisa was always the second capital of Somalia, and unlike Mogadhishu was never devastated by warfare. It was very different from Garowe. Once we crossed the border to Somaliland, or nothern Somalia, everything was so different. The most noticeable thing were the accents of the Border police in Somaliland, it is very different than that of Garowe, and the one I speak. The border cops in Somaliland also had a very rude attitude to them, whereas the ones in Puntland were friendly. However, our driver was from Hargeisa, so he could talk to them with their own dialect with ease.

After making it to Hargeisa, I stayed at City Center Hotel, which is basically in the middle of the city center. There were many outside markets selling clothes, different vegetables and fruits, unlike in Garowe. It also looked much bigger than Garowe. We came to Hargeisa around 5pm, so I wanted to explore the city right away. I decided to visit the markets, and other shopping centers. I was amazed at how they had everything in Hargeisa that is available in America, from electronics, different types of foods like yogurt, and cheese , unlike Garowe. Also, I saw white people and arabs walking down the street on their own. In Garowe, white people when they visit Puntland, have soldiers go with them everywhere they go. In Hargeisa it seems like they are free to move about on their own. I also noticed while in Hargeisa, that people don’t stare as much as they do in Garowe. I would dress how I wanted in Hargeisa, although it was covered up in a headscarf and abaya, but still people didn’t give me any attention. There were white women without headscarves walking about, and no one even looked at them. In Garowe, people stare like there is no tomorrow, so I was relieved to not get all that staring directed at me for a change. Also I saw people reading newspapers in Hargeisa, whereas, I never saw this in Garowe. Of course Garowe never was built when Siyad Barre was president of Somalia, and it was considered to be the rural part of Somalia. Garowe was built in the last 14 years, so it’s still in it’s infant stage in alot of areas. Nevertheless, Garowe is really a beautiful city.

As I went to explore the city, and would ask people questions and directions I always got the same reactions from people. People would always ask me if I was from “Mogadhishu” as my Somali accent was not the same as theirs, and they would ask if my tribe was “hawiye”. So I concluded that the majority of the people there were against people from southern Somalia, because some of them would even give me aggressive looks when they heard me speak. I became so defensive while in Hargeisa for the first two days, because I never felt discriminated against by other Somalis in my life. It’s funny because we look alike, yet I felt so foreign while in Hargeisa. Eventually I ran into some people from the United Kingdom who were also Somalilanders there, and they were friendly and less tribal-minded. But what was really surprising is that even the people I met from the UK in Hargeisa, some even who were born in the UK still asked me what “tribe” I was. Growing up in America, I never asked anyone what tribe they were, I always saw the person as being another Somali. Even while in Garowe, no one has ever asked me what my tribe was. It seems like the people in Garowe are also more welcoming and hospitable to newcomers and are more pro-Somalia, and about unity.

Anyways, my new found friends in Hargeisa really helped me relieve my tension, and drove me around the city, took me out to eat American, Italian and Ethiopian foods. I eat real Ethiopian food at this restaurant owned by real Ethiopians in Hargeisa, in Garowe, they have the fakest Ethiopian injera ever, it’s basically Somali style injera (flat bread) that is bigger to make it look like it’s the regular Ethiopian injera. Anyways, the first thing I wanted to eat while in Hargeisa was a proper cheese burger. I didn’t have a cheese burger for like 10 months, so I was so excited to find that this hotel called Maan-Soor had that. I went to visit that hotel and it was absolutely a 5-star hotel, and I was surprised that it was there. Nevertheless, I had my first taste of real melted cheese, and beef!! I hadn’t had beef since coming to Garowe, because they have no cows in Garowe, only goats and camels. I also went to this place called Fish and Steak and had the best pizza in the world with chicken and again real melted mozzarella cheese. I also had real icecream, yogurt, and apples of which I was starved off for the past 3.5 months in Garowe. The shopping there was amazing, they had really nice clothes, but I was surprised by the high prices there. The “upscale” stores there were really expensive, almost more expensive than even in America, and you would think Africa would be more cheaper than America. I didn’t see one local person from Hargeisa in those stores, and the majority of people shopping there were from abroad. In Garowe, although it tends to be the most expensive place in Puntland, was in comparison much cheaper.

Eventually I missed my family in Garowe, and had to return after being 5 days in Hargeisa. Before I left, I decided to do one more round of shopping in the city, so I took the city bus to visit different places within the city. In Hargeisa, they have similiar buses to Dubai, but in Garowe, they don’t have big buses, they use these vans to escort people. I finally hopped in my car again for another 9 hour drive back to Garowe, which I missed for some reason. The whole time while I was in Hargeisa I felt like I was not in Somalia. To make things worst that day I was traveling back to Garowe, there was fighting going on in a city called Tukaraq, near Las Anod between Somaliland and Puntland. We eventually had to stop in Las Anod until it was safe enough to continue our journey. We passed Somaliland soldiers while in Las Anod, then after we crossed the Puntland border we saw Puntland soldiers and heard gunfire in the mountain areas adjacent to the main road we were driving on. It was a very tense experience, but we made it safely to Garowe. When we crossed the border to Puntland, it was the first time I felt relieved and finally at home. I felt I was back in my own country at that moment. Even friends I made while in Hargeisa called me to ask me if I made it safely back to Garowe, because they had also heard about the fighting in that area.

Overall, it was great for me to get away for a while from Garowe, and I definately will try to visit Hargeisa again, even with my little negative experiences there. Hargeisa is a great place to visit if you want to vacation there for a short time. It reminded me of how Somalia was when Mogadhishu was peaceful, except Mogadhishu was more beautiful at that time. I also hope to post pictures of my trip to Hargeisa soon.